Summary

Stewart Dubinsky knew his father had served in World War II. And he'd been told how David Dubin (as his father had Americanized the name that Stewart later reclaimed) had rescued Stewart's mother from the horror of the Balingen concentration camp. But when he discovers, after his father's death, a packet of wartime letters to a former fiancee, and learns of his father's court-martial and imprisonment, he is plunged into the mystery of his family's secret history and driven to uncover the truth about this enigmatic, distant man who'd always refused to talk about his war.
As he pieces together his father's past through military archives, letters, and, finally, notes from a memoir his father wrote while in prison, secretly preserved by the officer who defended him, Stewart starts to assemble a dramatic and baffling chain of events. He learns how Dubin, a JAG lawyer attached to Patton's Third Army and desperate for combat experience, got more than he bargained for when he was ordered to arrest Robert Martin, a wayward OSS officer who, despite his spectacular bravery with the French Resistance, appeared to be acting on orders other than his commanders'. In pursuit of Martin, Dubin and his sergeant are parachuted into Bastogne just as the Battle of the Bulge reaches its apex. Pressed into the leadership of a desperately depleted rifle company, the men are forced to abandon their quest for Martin and his fiery, maddeningly elusive comrade, Gita, as they fight for their lives through carnage and chaos the likes of which Dubin could never have imagined.
In reconstructing the terrible events and agonizing choices his father faced on the battlefield, in the courtroom, and in love, Stewart gains a closer understanding of his past, of his father's character, and of the brutal nature of war itself.

Critic reviews

"[Turow has] set new standards for the genre, most notably in the depth and subtlety of his characterizations...the kind of reading pleasure that only the best novelists, genre or otherwise, can provide." (
The New York Times)
"Turow makes the leap from courtroom to battlefield effortlessly." (
Publishers Weekly)
"No one writes better mystery suspense novels than Scott Turow." (
Los Angeles Times)
"Scott Turow not only knows what his readers want, he delivers just about perfectly...Turow is the closest we have to a Balzac of the fin de siecle professional class." (
Chicago Tribune)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

5 out of 5 stars
By
davidpvny
on
28-11-05

Great book, even better performance

Loved the book and loved the performance. I actually chose this book not because it was a Turow work, but because Edward Herrmann is my favorite reader and I thought it?d be a real pleasure to listen to his treatment of a novel. His nuanced performance of this work is typically flawless. I was frankly leery of a Turow book, having never been able to really get started with Laws of Our Fathers, which was disappointing after having loved Personal Injuries. This novel was a wonderful surprise. Though at first glance one might think it's just another war serial, Ordinary Heroes looks at the basics of human existence in a very unique way. I very much liked the dual first person narratives...quite inventive. It?s a great device that allows the author a very ?readable? vehicle for his take on how our own experiences shape our lives in often unexpected ways, as well as the lives of those far removed from the immediate events we?re living through. I suspect that I would not have enjoyed this book nearly as much had I tried to read it. The richness imparted to the work by having Herrmann bring the characters and scenes to life is not to be missed. All in all, Ordinary Heroes is one of those where the long march to the end is very satisfying, and yet when you get there it?s somewhat sad?having spent so much time with these terrific characters, it?s a shame to have to go our separate ways.

Excellent

For someone who grew up in the fifties steeped in war movies just like the son of our heroes, this is a great read. I never could figure out why parents of that era seldom spoke of the events during the war. It was apparently quite horrible but fascinating at the same time. This one is well worth the book credit.